Silent rail joint



q- 1940' T. B. MAHER SILENT RAIL JOINT Filed May 51, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 1N VENTOR. TZWW X2 482 ATTORNEY.

Sept. 24, 1940. MAHER 2,215,475

' SILENT RAIL JOINT I Filed May 31, 1958 2 sheets -sheet 2 INVENTOR, Ma

Arm? EX Patented Sept. 24, 1940 nm'ran stares PATENT -QFFEQE 3 Claims.

My invention relates to rail joints for rails used on railroads and especially of the kind of rail joint that materially reduces the pounding and knocking of car wheels at the time each of said wheels pass from one section length of rail to an adjoining section thereof.

It is well known in railroad construction that sections of rails are generally joined together by means of fish plates or fish joints. An interstice or space is permitted between said rail sections to provide for expansion or contraction.

When the wheels of a train of cars or wheels of other Vehicles that roll over the interstices of said joined rails sections, said wheels tend to cause a pounding or knocking of said wheels thereby causing unnecessary noise and excessive wear of both the rails and the car wheels aforesaid.

In my invention the pounding or knocking of the car wheels above referred to upon the rails is practically eliminated by providing rail sections that are joined in the combination of a scarf joint with a dove tail reinforcement for said joint. All of said rail joining being disposed longitudinally with respect to the length of said rails and in this manner avoiding that of common practice of having right angle interstices between the rails and thereby preventing the pounding of the wheels aforesaid and insuring a much safer rail because of the provision made for the expansion of the rail during the heat of the summer and which prevents warping or misalignment of the rails.

A further object of this invention is to provide a novel construction of fish plates which substantially joins the respective rail sections together.

A further object of this invention is to provide a novel tie plate whereby added security is provided in joining said rail to the ties or sleepers.

In further description of my invention reference is had to the drawings in which Fig. 1 is a view showing two sections of rails joined in the manner of an overlapping scarf joint and secured together by means of novel type fish plates.

Fig. 2 is a cross-section taken on a line 6-6 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the rail arrangement shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of two joined sections of rails as shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the fish plates used for securing the rail sections together and in proper position.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the base or tie plate of said rails.

Referring to Fig. 1 which shows a longitudinal side rail joint connection 24, said connection consisting of two sections of rails 25 and 2t. Said sections are connected by means of the fish plates l3.

Referring to Fig. 4 which shows end rail sections 25 and 26 separated and. apart from each other, said separation in order to fully illustrate 10 the novel manner of jointing said end sections. In section 26, the jointing end thereof is squared off with an inset portion 28 into which the extension iiil of rail section 25 is fitted. The web portion H is provided with bolt holes to readily l5 admit screw bolts which extend through the elongated apertures 25 of rail section 25 when the two sections 25 and 26 are placed into juxtaposition. A square protusion 33 extends approximately parallel to the end portion of the head of go said section 26 of rail. Therail has the usual flange H. At the inner side of section 26 as viewed from the drawings and shown in dotted line in Fig. 1 and below the head ofsaid section, is a square shaped extension 3| integral to the 25 rail web Il and a similar square shaped extension 34 is shown integral to the rail flange I1.

A squared recess between said extensions 3| and 34 permits the fitting or insertion of the square projection 33 intosaid recess as shown in Fig. 1. 30 The web portion of the jointure end of section 26 is recessed, said recessing in the area of the projections or extensions 3| and 34. The inner web portion is recessed from the head inset 28 to the end portion 30 of said section 26. 35

Similarly, but in reverse order the jointing end section 25 has a square outer projection 33 which when placed in juxtaposition with rail section 26 fits into inner recessed space portion 32, and the projection 33 of said section 26 fits into the re- 40 cessed space 32" (see Fig. 1). The inner portion of the web of section 25 isrecessed in a similar manner to that of section 26 only in opposite order so that both recessed sections when overlapped together form a complete body portion of 45 the web Il equal in the thickness, when so over lapped to the rest of the web portion of the rail, the only difference being the aforementioned overlapping of the recessed portions of said web upon the joining of said rail sections 25 and 26. 50

The tie plate 23 is provided with slots 23 corresponding to slots I5 of the fish plates I3, so that when the spikes [8 are driven into the fish plates l3, the base plate is securely fastened to the ties aforesaid. 55

The bolt holes and bolt securing means as shown in Figs. 1 and 8 are situated intermediately between the square shaped projection 33 and the projection 33 when said rail ends are joined. In this manner the bolt securing means of said rail ends is made substantially at the body section of the Web of said rail ends.

While the invention has been described in detail with specific examples, such examples are illustrative and are not given as limitations, since other modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Hence, the invention is to be understood as limited only as indicated, in the appended claims, in which the intent is set forth all the novelty over the prior art.

Now, having described my invention what I claim is:

1. In a silent rail joint, said joint comprising a pair of rail end sections, the jointing ends of each of said rail sections at their respective head portions being formed with an identical rectangular shaped recess at one side thereof, said recesses located in oppositely right and left positions with respect to the position of said rail ends to each other, the web portion of each of said rail sections having an identically reduced section, each of said web-portions having inner and outer longitudinal square shaped projections fitting correspondingly into square shaped correspondingly spaced recesses in said web portions and the respective reduced web portions fitting correspondingly upon the joining of said rail sections, and bolt securing means made on the body portion of the web of said rail sections for securing said rail sections upon the joining thereof.

2. In a silent rail joint, said joint comprising two sections, each of said sections having identical but oppositely positioned conformations, said conformations comprising a rectangular cutaway portion of the head of each of said rail sections, a Web section of reduced thickness, a square shaped projection on the web of each of said rail 7 sections, projecting longitudinally and directly beyond the base of said rectangular cutaway head portion, a square recess below said square shaped projection, a second identical square shaped projection below said recess and integral to the flange of each of said rail sections, said web section of reduced thickness extending to the jointure end of said rail section, said section including at the outer end thereof a square shaped extension, said projection and said extension fitting into oppositely spaced recesses and said oppositely reduced web sections fitted together upon the jointure of the rail sections aforesaid.

3. In a silent rail joint having identical but oppositely positioned end sections, each section having a rectangular cutaway portion on the head thereof, and a web section of reduced thickness, the web portion of said rail section having a square shaped extension, said extension being directly below the base of said cutaway portion of the head of said rail, a square-shaped recess below said square extension, a second square extension below said square recess and integral to and on a line with the fiange of said rail section, said reduced web section extending to the jointure end of said rail section, a square projection extending outwardly from the jointure end of said web, said projection on a line with the jointure end of said rail head, the inner web surface being in a plane with the inner surface of the rectangular cut portion of the head of said rail, the flange of said rail terminating on a line with the square extension that is integral thereto at the recessed part of said web, said flange extending on a line with the jointure edge of said web on the opposite side of said rail, the square extensions and projections fitting into corresponding recesses, and the shortened flange section of one rail being on a line with the longer flange section of the other rail upon the jointure THOMAS B. MAI-IER. 

